JLP says ruling party distorting facts on issues of national security

The Opposition is describing as misguided and desperate attempts by the ruling Peoples' National Party (PNP) to suggest that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is supportive of creating a police state.

Referring to a press release issued by the PNP yesterday, Opposition Spokesman on National Security Derrick Smith said: "The public should not be surprised that the PNP is resorting to its age-old practise of deflecting, distorting the facts, and creating all kinds of distractions where key national issues, including public health and national security, are concerned."

The Opposition security spokesman continued: "The PNP has sought to affirm, by way of a press release, that Jamaica will not become a police state under its watch... I have not seen, neither in the past or the present, where the JLP has suggested or acted in a manner that would see Jamaica being considered a police state. What the JLP has always and will always be adamant about is that Jamaica should be a safe, peaceful and prosperous society.

Smith argued that the ruling party should, instead of seeking to distort the facts and mislead the country, focus on stemming the crime wave affecting the country.

"It is critically important at this time that the PNP Government speaks specifically to the strategies it has been employing and plan to employ in stemming the unrelenting spike in murders," Smith said today in a press release issued by his party.

According to Smith, "the PNP is haunted by the ghost of its politically expedient past, when it failed to support the extension of the state of emergency requested by the police in 2010, out of fear that the then JLP Government stood to gain considerable public approval from what would have been even more significant and sustained reduction in murders and crime in general, had the extension been granted".